Comments

Tip for next year–flu shots, these are not only for old people, i have gotten a flu shot every year since I was in my mid-30's and haven't had the flu since. I am disappointed that you didn't show that slave pass thingy–I am fascinated and interested to see what you found out about it Ryanne.

yeah next year, we're all about flu shots, though the doctor even told us 'you can still get the flu even after the shot', that's literally why i never got them.

in terms of the copper plate, i generally don't video tape the art commission stuff, not sure why, maybe because we didn't scavenge that stuff ourselves, so i can't really talk to much about it other than we're selling it for someone else.

Hydrate, rest, lots of vitamin C. Sending you good vibes. Regarding flu shots, there are hundreds of influenza variants. The best that the CDC and vaccine creators can do is using computer models that try to predict the top 3-5 flu viruses that are going to make the rounds. When you are vaccinated, you are inoculated against those 3-5 versions of flu. If they are wrong about which ones are prevalent,or they mutate, then you may get the flu (a different version) anyway. Getting your flu shot is a good idea because it does decrease your chances of getting taken down by a flu. #numbersgame Thanks for making the video even though you did not feel good, Ryanne! Great thing about working for yourself is that you can take a sick day if you need to. Cheers,Kerylann

Hot OJ? Never thought of that. Seems odd. What does it do for you? I never went to the doc when I was sick last year and my lungs feel like they've never recovered. I dread getting sick again. My lungs will die.

I have lung scarring from double pneumonia 3 years ago. Now I get pneumonia every year. Goooood times….If you develop difficulty breating or an intensely severe chest cough after a bad cold or flu, go to your doc. Most folks don't really know much about pneumonia. I know I didn't until I had it.

Technically pneumonia vaccine doesn't prevent pneumonia – it can prevent bacterial pneumonia. Mainly meant for elderly folks in hospital settings. having said that, it was offered at work with the flu shot so I took it this year. Still got pneumonia but likely just the milder viral kind. Two months later and I'm just now feeling like I'm mostly healthy again.

Yes, vaccines are always limited to a certain degree. But after my brush with excruciating pain and an early demise I think some vaccines are worth the risk. I was working in an office cubicle at the time, nowhere near a hospital. Stay well!

Yikes! I didn't know Timberlands were faked. I've sold quite a few pair over the last couple years, I usually compare them to eBay solds. Maybe your area has more demand for them and have created a market for knockoffs? But now you've got me thinking as I bought these from a thrift store in Vegas, not here in Podunk South Dakota. How can you tell?

I compare by looking at the nuance of the logo (where that effing tree is in relation to the TM etc), if the shoe is available on their website and in what colors, etc. This is a popular brand that is faked a lot unfortunately, I tend to stay away from it.

That is a linen postcard album. It looks like it might be Curt Teich, but I am not exactly sure. Probably 1940s-1955, I'd guess from the look of it.

If you have any other postcard albums in that style to list, I would recommend adding the publisher as a keyword to the listing title, or at the very least in the description. Just another way for postcard collectors to find the listings they're looking for.

Also, if there is a postcard # indicated in the listing, include that as well. Postcard people are very particular in wanting all the information right in the listing, or they will hound you for more info.

$70 for a piece of old scrap wood with 5 masonry cut nails in it??? You can easily see by the fresh cut ends and the routed out slots in the back it hangs on it was made fairly recently. How do you guys do it?

No doubt. Still hard to believe anybody in their right mind would pay $70 for a board with 5 concrete nails stuck in it or that someone would even think to list it for sale for $120. Of course I have listed and sold many things that are worthless for huge money. Thank god for people with more money than brains or we would all have to go out and get real jobs:)

The thing is the nails aren't old. They are just concrete nails you can buy at any hardware store or lumber yard. They are not made to hold a load in the way they are driven into that board. Give it a few weeks and being they are only nailed into that board probably a 1/2"-3/4" they will come loose for sure with any kind of heavy jacket hanging from them. OK for hats or keys maybe. At least the store bought hooks are screwed in and wont come loose. Not that I would pay $70 for those either

Glad you asked because I secretly wanted to know to. Cold or hot if the kitty wants in, let him in! He missed his mommy. Or didn't like the weather. But what do I know? I spent the last few minutes freaking my cats out with a Halloween mask I found. One couldn't care less. The other jumped up and hissed at me with a fluffy tail. Funny yet mean and all caught on video hehe.

It seems like people either love or hate cats. I was anti-cat until I went to the pound to rescue a dog during the '93 flood and surprised myself by coming home with a sick little kitten instead. I have loved cats ever since. I have a hard time putting anything other than my cat photos on my blog. People who only love dogs need to just accept that cats are a whole different species! I love seeing Ryanne's cats on her videos.

Linda – one trick I have found is if you are using I Internet Explorer for labels, just use Google Chrome. This always works for me when labels won't print. By the way, a tip you gave a long time ago has really helped my business. You suggested using tissue paper to wrap items. Back then I never thought about it. Now I wrap nealy all items in tissue paper I get very cheaply from the dollar store. Thanks for that great tip Linda!

Glad you like the tip. I like yours! I never thought to use Chrome for the labels, although I list on Explorer on the right side of my screen while doing my research on Chrome on the left side. Never thought of switching. Duh!

Yes, Google Chrome for labels. It appears to be a bug with Internet Explorer (to me) that for some reason the postage labels will not print sometimes. The work around for this is to use Google Chrome which nearly always works. IE is different from most browsers and is buggie.

If I start in IE and I can't print (hasn't happened yet) can I get out of the "you just purchased postage which has been taken out of your PayPal account) screen and get back into that same label without repurchasing postage?

If you have 5 minutes, would you please click the link below and fill out 8-12 basic questions about selling online.

At the end of the survey, it will ask for your name and email. We're paying $5 to the first 50 people that fill out the survey. All you have to do is leave your name and PayPal email at the end of the survey and we'll send over $5 within 24 hours.

Omfug – I guess that is the way ebay goes. If I remember right, you did ok or good in February and my sales were way down. I guess it all depends on what we are selling at any given time and who wants to buy.

Oh I understand about the ebb and flow of ebay, it is just amazing to me that my stuff (and I have been listing) gets literally NO views–it is odd that is all, no, I won't say that I am being "throttled" but surely SOMETHING I have listed in the last week would spark some interest?

That's the thing though, people say their sales are good as an indication that it's not an overall ebay thing but that's the point of throttling. Of course someone's will be good while someone else's is bad. If everyones was bad then no one would think their being throttled. It does seem fluky as hell at times. Like eBay just drops people at random to boost others. No real proof of course but it's fishy when you go forever with nothing after a good period.

In a way, I feel sort of like this is an existential angst type conversation; maybe from the scene in Hannah and Her Sisters where Mickey's talking to his father about death anxiety and the existence of God… I think, ultimately, that whether or not there's throttling is unknowable (to us, anyway) and — if throttling does exist — well, there's not anything we can do about it anyway… except live in the moment, list more and better stuff, and possibly open a second store, just to see if it makes any difference.

This isn't to say it doesn't occasionally feel great to wave our fists and rend our garments in rage and frustration at the unknowable and unseen forces in our lives. I do it all the time!

(And I say all this as someone who had a gangbusters week last week, and not a sale all week this week. So I'm super-qualified!)

I totally agree Kate. As for OMFUG X, I believe she is an experienced seller. Her opinion and experience is good to hear no matter what – and of course, she didn't say she was being throttled. She has been saying, all things being equal, her sales are very slow. I don't think she has been complaining at all. She also communicated that, all things being equal, she's getting very few views on her items. Even though she knows there's nothing we can do, I'm sure a supportive word wouldn't hurt. If nothing else, her reporting of sales numbers is another data point in gauging sales overall. There are so many new sellers here, I think it's actually good for people to see that it's not such an easy game – especially because there happens to be some sellers here who have consistently great sales. That's great to see, but it's not the whole picture.

Keep it up OMFUG X! I'm sure those vintage lovers will come by sooner than later and the cha-ching will ring out again in PNW.

Thanks Anon–I also think it is important in the sea of high volume clothing sellers who post here and stores that have over 1000 items that continue to sell well, that those of us with smaller stores can struggle…as I've said, it is not the lack of sales that concerns me, it is the lack of views. I will, of course, keep listing–but to smaller stores I will quote from the late, great David Bowie "Oh no love! you're not alone."

Throttling could very well be real for good reason. It encourages new sellers to stick around. If nothing sells soon after they list they may walk away for good. Would you do that? Of course not and eBay knows it. They can play and alter search rank all they want. And amazon does alter search rank as well but for different reasons. I mean our items do get ranked based on some criteria. What I personally get frustrated about is everyone seems to have their average amount they make each week. So when I make my average in the first 2 days, I think this is going to be an awesome week! Instead I won't have another sale so it still is the same. It feels like I'm stuck on a financial number.

This is your show but i think sometimes its okay to vent to people that can relate. I know it irks you but most people are not like you. You are a rare bird. But we are a community so we lift each other up. You get frustrated some times I'm sure and if not I know Ryanne does. We all know it will pass. No one is trying to turn your blog into a negative eBay forum so don't worry. But it seems with you everything is black and white until it happens to you or you see proof for yourself and then there's finally a gray area. Just because you don't always have proof doesn't make other people bad sellers or liars. And I'm not talking about this one instance, just overall. And I also don't mean this to come across bad. I mean no harm or disrespect. Most of the time I appreciate your positive solution oriented attitude.

And sorry to omfugx, I know your probably cringing with your name being mentioned so much. Somehow you got stuck in the middle.

And Santa was real, just not in the way we made him today. So bad equation 😉

Yes, we're all friends here, but we're also here to keep each other honest.

OmfugX has posted many times about having slow weeks and feeling throttled. But she also knows she's voluntarily limiting herself because she lists so little. When you only have 200 items in your store, you're bound to get many days without views/sales. As others have said before, OmfugX actually has insanely great numbers for listing so little.

But when Anonymous people post to the blog about conspiracy theories, I assume they don't know much about how we run things around here. So I got to do the reminder.

Conspiracy people have two choices. Go to eBay forums to be negative and find other to commiserate about their shared failure.Go to Facebook groups to cheer each other up because they're all feeling sad and unmotivated.

Or you can hang out here where we put forth problems and come up with solutions.

Why is it important? Because we're about selling items. So we can make money.So we don't have to work a crap job.So we don't have to sit around listening to bosses we have no respect for.So we can be independent.

It's really simple. As I said, it doesn't actually matter if eBay is throttling or not. Even if they did, keep selling or quit eBay. You're not making enough money? List more. Quit selling stuff for $10. But just shut up about "someone" ruining your store.

I hope we're all friends still. I know we can take it. And if you don't believe me, take the advice from the guy that Mitch and Murray sent:

Thank the Lord for Coffee. Usually two pots before noon. But none after the noon hour. Then after 6:00pm to quote Friar Tuck, "Thank the Lord for Beer"! No really red wine!! Guess that is why I call myself a morning person :-)!!

J&R and others .. question on handling times and vacation. I know this topic has been covered before but with the new Business Policies becoming mandatory this year.

Last year when I went on vacation I used the commonly suggested method here of changing the handling times to 12 days so we could continue to sell. BUT in order to do so I had to change a few things. Prior to vacation time we had "opted" into the Beta Test of the upcoming "Business Policies". When we went to change the handling time on all of our items, there was not a selection to change handling time in bulk, within the new Business Policies. Called Ebay and they said that was correct, and to be able to change the handling time in bulk, we had to "opt out" of the business policies beta, and then the option would show in the actions tab. so, that is what we did. And sure enough, the option "change handling time" was present.

After vacation time, we changed everything back to the 1 day handling time but never opted back into the new Business Policies. But here is the rub,now that the "Business Policies" are slowly being phased in, you can even still opt in, but they will be mandatory by the fall, I believe. Is the option to change handling time in bulk going to not be available? We have all stated on here that was the preferred method when going on vacation, you guys do it when you travel, but will we all be forced after the Business Policies are effective for everyone, going to just have to use the Ebay put my store on vacation option? Does anyone have a comment on this.

Currently I am getting some error messages, where I wish to edit / change a few of my current shipping methods and the message says that I now have to opt back in to the new Business Policies to make those edits. So, the change is in the process of coming. I am going to go ahead and opt back in, but bet that the option to change handling time is probably no longer going to be available to do in bulk.

Will be doing this later today. Will let you know if it is still the way it was during that early beta version or if they have maybe changed that and allow bulk edits to change the handling times. mike in Atlanta

Found the answer.. First you have to be using the new Seller Hub, which is still in Beta ver. Then You have to "opt" in to the new business policies feature. This will be mandatory in a few months. Then you have to go to the Business Policies section, whcih you can access now if you are opted in. Then you have to go to the "Shipping" policies. It will show you how many listings you have in each of the shipping policies you have created. Then in each shipping type you open that policy in "edit" and you will be able to change the "Handling Time". So, if you have 5 different shipping methods, you will have to change the Handling time in all of those separately. not bulk edit like we all used to do. Who knows, when we all get ready to go on a vacation we will have to re-visit this topic and work through it. But at this point, maybe just using there "Put Your Store on Vacation Mode", may be the easier route to go. Ryanne, you will have to work it out when you go on your next trip for an extended time. mike in Atlanta.

let's all hope that ebay figures out that vacation mode should include the option to change your handling time. maybe they'll make that option more dynamic with the coming business policies. wouldn't that just make too much sense? mike do you have a link to where it says these business policies will soon be mandatory?

Upon re-reading though I see it says automatically turning on business policies, not mandatory. Sorry for the confusion. But I did have to opt in to change my handling time, so guess that is still "forcing" us to opt in to be able to do so. I do see that they state that as they slowly start to "automatically" turn this business policy function on, and I am guessing they mean eventually it will be everyone, that we can still opt out, if we so desire. But when I did this after vacation time last year, some functions went away.

Again, sorry for the confusion, but the main thing is with the business policy option engaged I was able to re-organize several shipping categories and also change the handling time. mike in Atlanta

Hey Jay… From what I dealt with last summer, if you recall, I had already been switched over to the business policies and had to opt out in order to be able to see the handling time listed as an option to change. Then when I got back to Atlanta, I changed the handling time back to one day, like before vacation, and then never opted back in. So I had been absent from looking – reviewing the business policies section since then. So recently I wanted to change a bunch of shipping methods and titles, so I opted back in and now I was pleasantly surprised. They have added some extra functionality and made improvements. Actually pretty good.

From what I see the handing time can now be changed within the "BP" section, as Ryanne mentioned earlier. That as she said, does make simple sense, also seems that all you have to do is created several common policy names for the different ways you ship things and they "DO" allow calculated shipping to be used, as far as I can tell at this moment. I will be using my bulk editor later or tomorrow to make the alterations on numerous entries and I will have more to report about what it will and won't do after then.

As far as changing all items, I think it will leave well enough alone on what already exists but if you wish to change, edit, or when you create new listings you will have a new way of seeing your shipping choices that you have pre-created show up in a drop down menu. If you follow one of those blue links on the article link you were reading, it gives some suggestions and tips on how you will be using the new BP to create and organize your handling time, payment acceptance methods and of course shipping choices and methods. Little hard to explain, but I liked what I saw last year and even more so now. mike in Atlanta

Well as stated I had to opt in to change a bunch of shipping profiles and to opt out to change handling times. So, instead of using the "mandatory" word, just suffice it to say, some things you are going to have to opt in to get done. Most won't even have to worry about it until they need to do something. I am not overly hung up on the mandatory or not, as we always say around here, where do I go to "Get'er Done" and move on. Solutions is king and knowledge is power. Hoo 'aah .. mike in Atlanta..

Thank you for doing this video even though you were sick, Ryanne. I'm inspired to keep my eye out for wallets now, and to work even when I don't feel like it! Hope you guys are feeling better. If I lived close I'd drop off my "mommy I'm sick chicken sancocho (soup)" always does the trick 🙂

Went to my fav GW today and wowza whoever did the pricing today is insane. Things that two days ago were a dollar are now 5. Puzzles and board games were 5 and up. And that's with missing pieces! And it never fails that if I go in with an agenda it never works out. That GW always has a lot of Ralph Lauren stuff and recently I watched a video about which versions of the line are the best to buy. I get there planning to weed thru the RL stuff and I didn't find a single RL piece of clothing. Go figure. Obviously if it stays like that at my GW I'll stop going to it. There's only 2 I frequent anyway. I'm hoping it's just a bad pricer back there.

All of my local thrift stores have started looking up prices on ebay and have priced accordingly (of course they don't look up "sold" prices.) Stuff still slips through it just makes the looking a bit harder.

Savers has AMAZING price discrepancies. Just today while paroosing the bags (my favorite area) there was an authentic Coach wristlet for .99 – no brainer right? Well 2 sections down there was a little Coach coin purse (like 2"x3") and it had a price of $19.99. I have no idea how they process and price their donations and it is cases like this that really make me wonder.

Anne – I have much better luck with estate sales. I we t to one where there was a basement full of cllothes. Mostly RL. 2 for $10 the first day and 3 for $10 the last day – many still had the tags. Needless to say I bought 60 items or so which I will list for about $3000 total. I have been finding other estate sales like this and I feel like I'm going into the clothing business. My plug for estate sales.

I like estate sales but there are only a few a month nearby. And most of the time the owner just moved and took most of the good stuff with them. I envy people who go to estate sales and yard sales. I can't sleep well and I cannot get out of the bed early enough. I can stay up till 5am problem. I guess that's why I've worked 3rd shift many years. Most early birds never understand why night owls can't just get up. But its like telling them try to stay up to 3 a.m. every night. Like my husband is dead tired before 10pm. Hes definitely an early bird.

So J&R – little coincidental side note on your recent chair acquisition – was reading Mike and Wendy's blog earlier and noticed in a photo that their kitchen chairs look an awful lot like your recent haul!

I am on a private Ebay Facebook forum. A few days ago, a seller posted that she had a pair of prescription glasses removed by Ebay. Then, another seller posted Ebay's policy that said something about prescriptions not being allowed. Glad you guys were able to sell yours.

It's all in how you word it. You have to be specific that you are just selling the frames. Instead of saying "eye glasses" in the title, say "eye glass frames". Explicitly exclude the lenses in your description and you'd be fine.

$80 for a trucker hat. Another full price sale. I keep selling them full price to people in Europe. I bought a trucker hat collection about a year ago from a guy for $700 but I got about 500+ hats and have sold about $3K worth so far in only 100 hats.

I just bought 780 more press photo's from someone for 35 cents per photo. There were a lot of 90's artists ranging from Dave Matthews Band to Tupac. Even if I average $10 per photo (I think it will be $15 average at least) so it will be a good return.

A lot of it is just luck. The trucker hat collection I found when I was at a garage sale. This old guy had all of them displayed in his garage it was very impressive. I asked him how much for all of them and he said they weren't for sale. Before I left I gave him my info and asked for the "I don't want to sell it price" and he ended up contacting me because he didn't want them to go to waste (he was also very confused because I was in wearing a suite at a garage sale asking to buy 500+ hats lol).

The press photo's I got recently a buddy that owns a store had someone come in and offer to sell them. He knew I had a bunch and bought them all for dirt cheap and I told him I would give him 35 cents per photo so I am sure he made a quick $200 which is fine with me.

Usually if I see a deal I will pounce. Even if the person doesn't want to sell just say what is your don't want to sell it price and it's usually a lot cheaper than you would think.

I haven't done a craigslist post in a while so I can't show an example but here is one for cards I did on another site.

Basically just be straight up say you are reselling. That way you can just say sorry it's not a good deal for me to make money on. I recently bought about 60,000+ cards and the person knows I am reselling them but they just don't want to put in the time to do it.

That's a good point Dan. I'm often troubled with trying to explain my reasons when going all in, I'll usually just say, when pressured that I like this stuff and what I can't use I have my son get rid of it on eBay. But if you're straight up and explain a little about what's involved with selling online you have the out if it's too much to make it worth your while and the seller might just be reasonable and let you have it for what your willing to pay.

You have leverage when you flat out tell them you are going to resell it. If you say you are buying it for other reasons you can't really flat out say sorry I won't make any money on these. You also get a sense if the person will budge.

If they give you a price and it's too high you can say sorry there is no way I will make any money. I have to pay listing fees, final value fees, paypal fees, and someone to list it. For every $100 in sales I have a built in cost of 30% between fees etc along with my time. After you lay out that kind of scenario they realize you are telling the truth and work with you.

My other line is you could do all of this yourself and make more money or take the money and not have to do all the work. I am making my money off the time I am putting into list it.

Well you guys are ceratinly talking about garage-yard sales. At the estate sales they have 3 or 4 days to unload. Most don't budge on the first day. Most are way too busy too even listen, they have 5 or 6 people coming at them from day one. Maybe on the last day toward the last few hours, inventory has depleted and what's left is some negotiation, maybe. In the Antique Booth world, if you see it, know it's value, then grab it and growl. Good chances it won't be there tomorrow. But I will say, that here in Atlanta we have tons of sales going on 12 months out of the year. No shortage here. Those 20 hats I miss today, I will find plenty more in the weeks to come. mike in Atlanta

Sorry you guys have a bug. Me too, awful cold & sore throat. Of course I had 10 to ship yesterday and felt like crap but feel lucky for good sales this week. I just hit $1400 for the week, mostly clothes, dishes & other stuff minus a $73 snowsuit being returned for not fitting. I'm a nerd and watch our power/ electricity outage state map in NH and now I'm watching the weekly US influenza map at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/#S5. Thankfully my bug isn't the flu, had the flu last year despite a flu shot and ended up in the hospital. Rest up, take a break, start a new series and thanks for sharing! C in NH

Yes, I've followed you guys for a long time & frankly think your info & lifestyle is the best on the web. I've posted occasionally. I'm a scavenger at heart too! I usually sell about $800 a week, ranges from $600-1200, sometimes less of more, best week ever was $1600. I have about 600 listings but there are around 75 duds I need to ditch. I had a superior week since I sold St John knits, Oleana sweater twinset for $219, many dishes- Rorstrand Mon Amie. I bought a handful of Mon Amie dishes for $3, saw the price & wow! Later the same junk store had a whole hutch (equaled 3 large boxes) of these so I bought them all for $50 with maybe 4 damaged items. I hope to make $800-1000 on these dishes. I am slowly listing these since I hate to flood the market. I tend to list high, wait, then slowly lower the price since storage is not an issue. I know the clothing market is flooded, even Griff of Ebay radio mentioned this, but I just plug along as this is what I know best. I still sell a pretty wide range of randomness too. We also have a seasonal home in northern NH that we bought abandoned & partially built. We did the work ourselves (minus plumbing & electrical), filled it with thrifted & repurposed items and even added an addition. It's a great investment. I love to hear about your rental properties and evolution. Thanks a ton! C in NH

Kind of, we bought 'Uptacamp' with 5 acres 10 years ago and completed it on a serious budget (free, used, made). Since we are in our mid 50s we're uncomfortable with our investments being solely in stock market/mutual funds so real estate is a different kind of security. Recently we bought a 30 acre gorgeous hay, cornfield & forest lot for our retirement home someday. A dairy up the road farms it for free while it stays in super low tax 'current use'. Some ask why we let them farm it free? Because we don't own equipment to keep it clear and the trees will overtake quickly.

Sorry to hear that you both are sick. I haven’t been sick since April of last year (knock on wood). Feel better soon.

I wanted to make a comment about sheets (mentioned in this week’s podcast). New in package sheets are one of the first items I look for at an estate sale. They are so easy to list. I really look for the vintage sheets…look for the word “percale” and the graphics on the package. I also keep an eye out for vintage Disney sheets. I recently found a full flat sheet with baby Minnie Mouse on it at my local GW. Japanese buyers are crazy for Disney items. The sheet sold within an hour to a Japanese buyer.

So scanning books for resale. I start with Amazon and if it is high, then I look on EBay. Because I haven't started FBA yet. I'm starting to see that the prices are almost the same on EBay. Yes there are many that are higher. Yet is it enough to offset the costs of FBA? I've had a couple of books that I sold on EBay for significantly more money. They were harder to find ones, but still. I'll be curious to see Ryanne what you think as time goes on.

It is weird how the book prices yoyo between the two selling formats. I sent in 40 books this past weekend to amazon mainly because they were long lead on ebay and the price stunk. I was able to competitively list at far higher prices on amazon FBA.

The only time I'll list on ebay is if there is enough selling history to tell me the book will be a quick and easy sale.

I have a Union Carbide hat that has foam at the forehead area. Since it is vintage (but not used) the foam is starting to flake off. I disclosed that in my listing and have listed it three times. I have had some watchers, but no buyers. Should I leave the foam the way it is or try to get it out of there to make a slae?

I would leave it as is, but that's just my opinion. You probably just need to wait for that one person out of 30 million who wants it, and that's going to take time no matter what you do to it. I would put $49 obo and let it ride. You can always change it in 6 months or a year, if it's not selling.

That's so funny. I know I price my stuff way too low (since I am just starting out and want to establish good feedback before I ask higher prices). I have it listed at $11.99 with free shipping…oooopps

Nobody wants a hat that is "shedding". Either rip the patch off and trash the hat or remove the shedding foam(google). I'd recommend just removing the patch unless the hat has other attributes that would add value(writing on the hat or bill pertaining to the patch).

You guys are amazing! The wood with nails is something I never would have looked at or considered buying. You guys have a great eye! Also shout out to the cute kitty that wanted to be let it. I spend half of my day letting 2 dogs and 2 cats inside, outside, inside, outside….I could probably list twice as much each day if not for the amount of time I spend catering to spoiled pets. Great video and I hope you both are feeling better!

Margaret – I'm the same way, I want to know the story. Sometimes my wide or I will ask and get great stories back. My favorite was one where we sold a backpack with a frame. The guy said it would be used in state search and rescue missions. How cool is that, my backpack could help save someone!

Amazon FBA experiment update:So amazon has received two of my packages so far and processed one. Things are getting wonky. All the sudden the shipped quantity of the three products I shipped multiples of changed from 2 to 3 for all three of them. They expected 3 instead of 2, which seems to be impossible as when I printed my labels only two of each printed.To make matters even more confusing, they "received" one of each in a box that only contained books when I processed my shipments. As in they accepted it and put it into my active inventory. How is that possible?

Lastly, when I checked my received inventory this morning everything was there. Now when I look, 6 of my books are inactive because they say they don't have an FBA listing for them. So…how exactly did I get a label to put on these books???

Note this is just a vent because I am working with amazon to resolve everything. So far this is not going nearly as smooth as I would want. Has anyone else doing an amazon experiment seeing anything like this? I have 100 more things ready to ship and currently merchant fulfilled but I'm not doing any more until the current batch is resolved.

might be worth a call to amazon. i've been having some similar issues with a couple items that have been sent and checked in and then they say they're not really for sale. what? so i need to go relist them. it's truly a learning curve coming from ebay, that's for sure!

Went to my first Goodwill Outlet this afternoon. What an interesting social setting. Complete mad house at times.

Found some interesting things. Very nice fishing vest that were in the bins that had already been ransacked. 4 old school WWF Vhs and 3 old concert VHS. Was a little perturbed at getting charged 50 cents each for them. I bet they throw away 99% of them at that price.

Clothing piles were completely overwhelming. Cherry picked 3 things that will be easy $20+ sales but didn't have the heart or the gloves to dig.

All in all it was a fun experience. Will definitely be back but would rather pay a little extra and go somewhere a little more organized.

You can find some great stuff in there. Avoid the new bins coming out if you want to avoid the crazies. I keep going back because it's so cheap. And I usually avoid the clothing because there's always some God awful smell in a bin that makes me walk away. My nose is my guide.

You guys see Oprah's wardrobe from her show is on auction on eBay. Stuff like this keeps EBay relevant. Everything in the hundreds already. Designer clothes plus Oprah plus been on TV or O mag. I'm surprised they kept most of that stuff in the first place. Would be neat to own something but waaay out of my budget.

I found a new storage trick that is really saving space and money. I store my items mostly in 30 gallon containers. The issue is over time they become less and less full. But I want to keep them together in the same bin because the bin # is on my listing and that is how I find it. I recently discovered that if I buy 18 gallon containers, I can transfer the 30 gallon contents to the 18 gallon if it is 1/2 empty or more. But, the other savings is that if I stack the 18 gallon containers width wise on the 30 gallon, they fit (mostly)! I'm in the process of going through all my 30 gallon containers and seeing it the contents will fit into an 18 gallon. If so, just transfer all the contents and the label outside and done. I just bought 10 – 18 gallon containers from Walmart for $4.96 each and was able to find 10 30 gallons that could fit. This did free up 6 1/2 normal 30 gallon container spaces. Normally the math would say 5, but the location in my basement made it possible to fit more 18 gallon containers. I think I have at least 10 more candidates for this. Just a thought in case others haven't considered this.

Forgot to mention that 2 of the 18 gallon containers will fit width wise on top of a 30 gallon container. So, for every 2 30 gallon containers that get switched, I save 1 30 gallon space. Space is a commodity and what to use it the best I can.

I have an appointment with our tax guy on Monday and I will be discussing putting up a shed outside for hard good, COGS, estimated taxes, buying trips, etc. I sell only about $150 a month right now since I am waiting to come back from a month out of town before I buy into a basic store, but hopefully when I jazz up my inventory, I can offset most of my revenue with write-offs for the first year. I am anxious to get out of this cold snowy state to warmth, but I am also excited to come home and set up my store. I am hoping that an outside storage area will relieve my storage problem. It is so hard to find totes/storage containers at garage/estate sales and the stores around the nation that usually have them on sale after the holidays (Lowes, Home Depot, etc.) never have them reduced here, so I end up paying full price (although $5 each isn't too bad!)

From Midwest JunkerI use totes too on commercial shelving to stand the weight. However mine are organized by type so they can always be refilled without taking inventory. Here are some bin categories: Wood items, Lamps, Soft goods (like linens and blankets), Purses, Metal Items, Framed Pictures. Unless oversized or undersized (tiny things go in a dresser) each bins holds its own category. Once an item is listed it is just added to its type of bin. My inventory numbers also coincide by beginning with the category WO (wood) JE (jewelry) LA (Lamp) This works for me and once I see an item sell its as easy as going to the bin type and usually from their I can visually find it fast. I don't prepack or use a lot of packaging so visually its easy. These bins don't work real well for fine glass and ceramics, however – usually I try to shelf these carefully. But that's just my way. I have been able to find bins at the weigh and pay without lids, but with my shelving I don't even care about the lids so it works.

Package as you list. That way the stuff stays in perfect clean condition, size and weight is accurate and when it sells you just find the number on your organized shelf and press print for the label. I guess you have to have faith that your listing is accurate and will sell. Works for me….Only thing I don't do that with is wetsuits or leather jackets because I don't want them wrinkled.

In a perfect world, I agree with Mike M – 100%, but I have a space issue and there is no way prepacking would work for me. I use flat rate charges to Ebayers (most times I win-sometimes I lose). I don't use my space issues as an excuse to make an Ebay living – I have just adapted to the limits I have. And it can be done. Sometimes I either pass on items that don't fit my space or I contact fellow Ebayers who might be interested in such things. It is actually rewarding to see them reap the benefits of my find.

Had a great day of sourcing at garage sales today! It was a great realization when I spent barely 2 hours driving around buying "junk" and I told myself that this is my full time job now!! I felt so happy in that moment! This is month 3 of being self employed. Although March has been sluggish so far we've had a great start to the year. Also, I always love running across garage sales that have kids selling treats i.e. cookies, brownies, etc. Scavenging can really work up a mid-morning appetite!

I haven't posted here for a while. Went out of town for a month and really haven't posted anything new on eBay for 2 months. I just calculated my numbers for my accountant for 2015 and thought it might be of interest.

Just to qualify these numbers, I made my first sale on July 1st. But I had very few listings until September. That's when I started posting more earnestly. As of the end of the year I had posted 402 listings and I sold 56 items. So I never really made it past the first make or break point of 500 items in my store. Ok here we go.

Now to further qualify these numbers since they don't look that great, I bought a few of these items before I found Scavengerlife. Sooooo I made a few not so great purchases. Take this one for example, which is by far my worst impulse purchase pre-SL: I bought a mini bike chopper. I paid $827.50 and sold it for $750 (mainly took the offer just to get rid of it as I had 2 previous people make an offer, I accepted and then they didn't pay). So if you take that out of the equation it becomes a little better. I lost about $150 on that.

It just goes to show you that there has to be quantity. And with that statement I am going to start posting this week. Mainly because I have a whole storage unit full of things that I bought last year. haha I had too much fun at estate and yard sales last year. Oh just remembered, that doesn't include my storage unit fees… probably about $270 – $90 a month. I guess it's still not bad for part time income.